Comming back.

Today is Thursday again, and we have returned home.

During the return trip we have been talking and thinking about what had happened a long the week. we have reminded the first day, arriving to the school and meeting our partner, going to Bruges and Brussels, dancing, the boowling, and a lot of things.

On this trip we have been able to learn a lot of english, somethings from other cultures, to live with other people who is not the family or friends. We have been able to learn to rely on ourselves, but the most important thing that we have learned on this trip is that you never know the character of a person until you  do not live a few days with them and try to know about him or her.

And finally, I want to recomend you this experiencie because I'm waiting nervously March, when our Belgian friends come tu Barcelona.

We are gald to have known you and bring a lot of energy when you come, because we will pass a very good time. (that's for the Belgium people!!!!)

Monday at brussels

Monday we go to the school, we made a quiz about Belgium-Catalonia. We also recevied information from Catalonian people about Catalonia, like the culture, the politcs,... After that we all gone to Brussels. We devide in 4 groups and gone to visit Brussels with at every important place an explanation of the belgian students.
We ate an ice cream before getting back to the central station. After that we all gone to the ice skating in Poseidon.

Brussels fashion day

Sunday was a free day, so we decided to go to the "Brussels fashion day". There was a corridor full of dresses from the new summer collections 2013. at the end of this corridor they were bags and jewelry. In another room you could listen to music, drink something and also have a relooking. They were a lot's of places were proffesional took pictures. At 4 p.m. a catwalk started with new, young models.
We loved it! They were also beautifull pictures.

Arianna & Giovanna

Goodbye Brussels!!!

So today is our last night in Belgium and that doesn't make me happy! I hate to say goodbye!!! I have had such a great time, I have laughed a lot and I have felt very good here. I will miss not going to school and visiting places, I will also miss getting up at 6.30 with Kimberly (well, I wont miss getting up early).
I bring to Barcelona a lot of moments and laughs but, what's more important, a person that has been by my side this whole week (Kimberly) and I will miss her a lot!!!
See you in March!!


Carminaaaaa:)

Brussels

Tuesday we visited the atomium and the Margritte museum in Brussels. We went without our Belgium exchange students. 

The museum of Margritte was very interesting. I liked it a lot. Some of the paintings were strange, but still beautiful. After the museum we bought some souvenirs of Brussels. Then we caught the metro to the atomium.

We went to the top of the atomium and there the view is fantastic! We had a beautiful view over Brussels. 

After that we caught a train towards school.

Laia

Ice skating!

Saturday we went ice skating in Heverlee, nearby Leuven. We went with Louise, Justine, Aleix and Enric. It was the first time that Aleix went ice skating. It was funny to see him on the ice, but we helped him a lot. We had a lot of fun and we didn't fell a lot!  After the ice skating we ate a 'pannenkoek' , it's a Belgian pancake and we all liked it! Then we left the skating place to take the bus back to Leuven, but we had no bus back so we had to walk a bit to search for another bus stop. Finally we took the bus back. In Leuven we went to have a drink all together. It was a great evening!

Laia and Ellen

Nice day in Brussels! We visited the Magritte museum, where we saw the famouse pipe! Then we had some free time for shopping in Brussels and after that we went to the Atomium.  The Atomium is really big and nice. We went to the tallest ball and we saw all the city, becausr the weather was really nice.

In the afternoon we made a cupcake party and we enjoyed a lot.

At night in our house we cooked our dinner! 

It was a really nice day!

Brussels

Today the Belgium students came back to there lessons and we were without them in Brussels.
We visited the Magritte's museum and the Atomium.
Magritte is one of the most importants aritst from Belgium. He was a surrealits pintor and he is specialy known by La trahision des images.I learned a lot today but it was a  really tired day.

Treacherous fountain

Monday one of the groups had the great idea to do a crazy picture in the empty fountain in the royal park, but they didn't know how dangerous the situation really was.

Ester and Laia went in two of the eight circles and while they were walking into the mud, Ester felt down. Everyone was laughing but surprisingly, Laia also felt down. It was a painful but very funny accident.

 

                                                                                                 Laura and Ester

Lost in Brussels

It was the first day without Louise who left to Bangladesh (as you all know) and it was a little bit sad, but Flo is very nice too and I'm laughing a lot with her because of her weird jokes and behaviour. On Monday we spent all the day walking in Brussels. So, as it is not usual, Justine, Flo and Rani didn't know the way to Ravenstein Galleries, so after a long time, we got there and had lunch. There we took that beautiful picture.

From left to right: Enric, Rani, Justine, Aleix, Marcel and Florence.

My teacher Mary Jo got very stressed because we didn't know where we were and we were late to the meeting point. She finally said that these Belgians girls were very nice.

Cupcake rules

Today we have done a cupcake party and Kimberly and Carmina have done a very nice ones. Well, in fact Kimberly has done a very nice ones, Carmina has just tried but she didn't achieved it.  (K: that's not true!). We have done 57 cupcakes (we have just counted it because we didn't know what to write). And now Kimberly is going to paint Carmina's nails so we are leaving you with this lovely photo of all the cupcakes (they were delicious!!!)

Kimberly and Carmina

A different evening

Yesterday, Ellen, Lynn (her sister), Evi (neighbour girl),Marta Segura and I went to have dinner in Louvain. It was the first time for me and Marta that we ate Thai food. It tasted very good! After that, we went to have a drink; beer and "mojitos"!!. Then we went to pick up Celine to see a soccer game. We laughed a lot all night.

 Ellen and Laia. 

                                                                   

A nice day in Brussels

Hi to everyone! Today our belgium partners have not been with us during the second visit to Brussels; so it hasn't been as much funny as the last days. First, we have visited Magritte Museum, who was a surrealist painter, and we have enjoyed of his pictures for two hours. After visiting the museum we have had free time for shopping and visiting other interesting things of Brussels, fortunately, the sun was shining. Finaly, we have visited Atomium and we have made some fotos.

PD: As it has being usual, some of us were lost in the train station.

Today we saw the most important places in Belgium like the Grand Place, Butcherstreet,... After that we went all together Ice-Skating and Carlos fell like 3 times and Alyssa 0! After a long day we came back at home and ate some typical Belgian food: stoemp and sausages and played at the Wii till very late. Carlos was the best and won all the time. It was a very fun day!

kimberly is thinking, when we have a title we will write it :)

During our weekend, we had such a great time.
On saturday we went to the sea and after that we went to the Atonium as you can see in the picture (we look very nice). And on sunday we went to the bowling with all the others and Carmina lose (two times actually) but she tried to make the skittle fall down.

As you may know today we have gone to the ice skating and Kimberly didn't stop laughing seeing Carlos and Carmina falling down (literal, Kimberly's words)... she is such a bad person(carmina).

That's all for now, we will see you tomorrow.

 

Kimberly and Carmina!!!!



An awsome weekend!

We are in Belgium since Thursday, 18 and everything is going perfect!
An awsome day in Bruge last Friday and then, a very very good weekend.
we went to Knokke, is a city next to the sea where Celine has an apartment. we were there since friday afternoon until next morning with some Celine's friends.
On Saturday we took a train to Bruge and then an other one to Leuven where were another students and we had a very nice evening, having a party. Leuven is a very nice city and there is one of the most important Deuch University.

Night in Louvain-la-Neuve

It was the second night we went out with our exchange students. Our Belgians students had the choice of the place were they took us. Carlos, Carla and my exchange students decided to take us to an italian restaurant and then go to the bowling of Louvain-la-Neuve. It was a verry fun night, we visited l'Esplanade (a big shopping mall). I'd liked that students city a lot.

Bruge is awesome!

Last friday was our first day that we were all day in the new country, we visited all together Bruges.
Bruges is a very nice city, it has a very old history and lots of places to visit.
Bruges is a small Venecie, you can go by boat and see all the city, we do it!
We have free time for buy souvenirs, go sightseeing or eat a tipical goffre!
Belgium is really beautiful!

Pd: Is really difficult to writte with a diferent keybord, I have lots of problems to write this.

TRIP TO BELGIUM!

Dear friends, Once more, we have organised this course 2012-2013 exchange with great enthusiasm. In fact, we should be celebrating the 10th aniversary of this event, which means the exchange is a very successful project in both schools. This year, we managed to do the students' matching during the summer so that when we got back to school in September, our students could easily get in touch.I've heard they have already set up a group in Facebook and are getting along with each other. Our Catalan students (and also the teachers)are very excited about the trip to Belgium next week. We hope they will learn a lot about Belgian culture and lifestyle and they will also speak English and maybe even learn some Flemish! We're looking forward to seeing you all very soon! Anna Suana

NEW EXCHANGE BELGIUM-CATALONIA 2012-2013

Dear students, We're glad to start the process to organise a new exchange for next course. We're delighted to hear that we will probably have about 12-14 students interested in taking part. I'm sure you won't regret it and you'll have a really enjoyable experience! Click on the link below so that you can fill in the exchange application form. That way, we'll be able to start matching the students and you'll be able to get in touch sooner. Thank you very much for your colaboration.

Goodbye

Dear students, teachers and families, Yesterday we were sad to say goodbye to our dear friends. We really had a very nice time with all of them in Terrassa and Barcelona. They are a really nice group, all of them, and I think they made the most of their stay here in Catalonia. I hope they all took nice memories with them that will help them keep in touch. It's been a pleasure to organize an exchange with you all. Here you have some nice photos of the last activities we did together. Take care. A very big hug, Anna

Hello there
A small word of the Belgian teachers. We also enjoyed our visit to Bacelona where we were guided by our owm students, by the teachers of the exchange school or by professional guides in La Sagrada Familia and La Perdrera. The Catalan students are very nice and they organize activities to do all together in the evenings. Our pupils are enjoying but can`t get used to the Catalan eating timetables. But we are already adapted! Nice things won´t last forever so we have to enjoy our lat days.

Kati and Catherine

¡Hola Amigos!

¿Como estas? Here the sun is shining again, so we´re very happy! :)

Yesterday we visited the Barri Gòtic, which is a very beautiful neighbourhood. This is a lovely place to walk around and escape from the busy center of Barcelona! You can easily get lost in the narrow streets.

If you are in the center of Barri Gòthic, you see the Santa Maria del Mar. That is a big church arounded by houses.
Santa Maria del Mar was built in the 14th century by the harbour workers. After their work in the harbour, they came together to build the their own money and energy. The workers were very proud of their own church because it was their own creation and not one of the rich bourgeoisie. It´s very impressive especially if you see the grandeur and the beauty of Santa Maria del Mar.
In 1428, an earthquake destroyed a part of the church, but is was rebuilt a few years later.

Of course, we didn´t invent all this! A nice art teacher of the school joined us and explained us a lot. Luckely he went with us, because otherwise we wouldn´t have learned so much.

We really enjoyed it!

See you soon!

Rebecca and Ylenia

Casa Mila/ Pedrera 22/03

Hello everyone

Today we saw La Pedrera , which is the Catalan nickname of Casa Mila.The appartment was build by Gaudi. He got this job bacause the owners, Mister amd Miss Mila, wanted to impress the other bourgoisies of the streeth.
Their appartment was 1300 scare meter large. This appartment was located in the middle of the building, all the others were rented out.
Why it is called 'La Pedrera' is because when the Catalan people saw this house, the began to mock it. It had so much stones in the front that they called the quarry (= La pedrera in Catalan) .
  
We were so lucky to have a guide who explained interresting details of the house. For example she told us that the front-facade was only a decoration because it wasn't needed to support the building.
The roof had to be seen like a hat. The function of it was to capture the rainwater and lead it to all the appartments, this was a very new way of providing water. Gaudi didn't only invent this, he also used the first elevator in a building. It was made of wood and was so slow that he constructed a bench in the lift.

Not everybody was so lucky to use the elevator, the servants had to go by the stairwal all the way to the top. This was constructed of arches, which explaines the form of the roof.
We used the stairs as well and saw that Gaudi was inspired by nature in every element of the building. For instance the doorknobs were ergonomic, the corners were round and the stairwall in total was inspired of a sea shell.

We had a magnificant view on Barcelona from the top. We could even see the Sagrada familia and the Torre Agbar.

To sum up , we can say that although the appartment was built to show that they were rich, it is also a very good example of how genius Gaudi is.

And if you wondered the weather is finally good !

Bye and see you in 2 days,

Flore and Estelle.

Palau del Música

¡Hello!
Yesterday it was still raining in the morning. We visited Barcelona and the beautiful Palau del Música:
it is a magnificent concert hall, which is build in 'Art Nouveau' style. It was disigned by the great architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. 
This is what David Mackay, professor of natural Philosophy at the University of Cambrige, said
about this place:

The concert hall is one of the most beautiful in the world (...) without exaggeration. It is one of its most important architectural treasures. Its pace, simple, complex, mystical and paradoxical, defies accurate description.

How much we wanted to visit the concert hall, we coudn't because it was to expensive ( €15). However we saw the hall and the cafetaria (where some pupils bought a muffin), this was already breathtaking. We couldn't stay for a long time, because we had to rush to the casa Mila to be on time for our guided tour.

All in all we liked the Palau del Música a lot, firstly because it was very pretty and also because we weren't in the rain for a while.

Greetings from Spain
Nina and Eline P.

Mayor is coming to town!

Hola amigos belgues!

Today we're going to visit Terrassa! An important industrial town next to Barcelona, where most of our hosts live. The school of our Catalan friends is situated here. Each morning we come here to write on this blog and sometimes we even follow an English class.

We'll be visiting the medieval town, which includes the St. Peter Romanesque Churches, Vallparadis Castle, Palace tower, another castle and the Town Hall. All those buildings are part of our tour.

After the medieval town, we'll visit the industrial city. In our opinion we'll like this part of the city the most, because there is a modernist building, called Maia Freixa, inspired by Gaudi. We think this will be very impressive. We'll also be visiting some museums.

We're looking forward to lay back in the Park of Terrassa, because the sun is shining brightly.

Later on the mayor is coming to meet us. We're looking forward to meet him, because he's an important man in Catalonia, a well known politician.Yesterday he even came on the news, but we can't understand Spanish or Catalan, so we didn't know what happened.

Comiat!

Sarah, Wouter and Roxane

¿Finally some good weather?

Hello Belgian people!

Yesterday we had a lot of rain during the visit of Palau del Musica, the Santa Maria del Mar church and la Pedrera. When our visits were over, it stopped raining and the sun showed itself. The sun really knows when it has to shine! :)

After visiting Barcelona, we went back to Terrassa to have a free afternoon with the Catalan students. First, we had lunch with our exchange students, and afterwards we went to a big arcade hall where we had a lot of fun playing bowling. We were divided in three groups, and in each one of them there was at least one person who was really talented for playing bowling (sadly, we weren't one of those persons :( ...).

Yesterday we also realized that we were in the middle of our week, which made us really sad for a moment... Then we said to eachother that we should really enjoy our last three days and be happy of what we have already done here in Barcelona/Terrassa.

Today, the weather is already very nice, there is not even a single cloud in the sky! We could finally put on some lighter clothes, which will make the visit of Terrassa more fun and enjoyable. We will be visiting the mayor of Terrassa today, to make a picture which will appear in the newspaper. We're famouuuuuuuus!

We miss you all, especially Marie-Kell, who should've been here too.
We wish you all a very nice day and we hope you haven't forgotten us yet.

xoxo
Naomi and Eline B.

Sagrada Familia 21/3

hello everyone!!
Yesterday we visited the Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately it was raining the whole day and there was so much wind that we almost couldn´t use our umbrella. We will tell you about the wonderful Sagrada Familia.
We had a guided tour in the cathedral. The Sagrada Familia is a very big church, protected by UNESCO and built by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. The cathedral is the best example of the Catalan modernism. you can compare this art with the art Nouveau in Belgium.

We´ve learned that Gaudi wasn´t the original architect for the big project. Francisco del Villar started with the project but after a year he quit it. Gaudi worked almost his whole career on the cathedral as a hermit. They still haven´t finished building the church. It is planned to be ready in 2026, that is 100 years after Gaudi´s death.
the Sagrada Familia has three façades, which represents the nativity, the passion and the glory of Christus´ life.
The nativity façcade has been built by Gaudi and was finished in 1904. You can really read the façade like a book.
The passion façade has been built by Josep Subirachs. The façade has a more modern style because it has been built half a century after the nativity façade.
The glory façade hasn´t been built yet.
The inside of the cathedral is very impressing because of all the big pillars, which represent the trees in the nature. There are very big glass-in-lead-windows, where a lot of light comes through. This was the aim of Gaudi, because Jesus said that he was the light.
As a conlcusion we have learned so much about this amazing cathedral and recommand everyone to visit the Sagrada Familia.

Here you see a picture of nativity façade of the Sagrada Familia

Greetings from Barcelona
Estelle and Rebecca